The Exchange
by GollyGeeWhiz
Summary: How exactly did Hera take Percy and Jason's memories? What real memories did Hera cover up in Piper and Leo? How did Annabeth react when Percy went missing? A series of POVs before The Lost Hero & the Son of Neptune in the perspective of some of the 7.
1. Percy

**_Yay! My first story on FanFiction! Please review your thoughts (while remembering that I am a human with feelings.) Also, tell me who you would like me to do next! Jason? Annabeth? Piper? Hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

 **Percy**

 **It was the end** of an average day at Camp Half-Blood, and Percy Jackson was saying goodnight to his girlfriend Annabeth Chase.

"Goodnight, Seaweed Brain," smiled Annabeth, sliding her arms over Percy's shoulders and lacing her hands together at the back of his neck.

Percy smiled down at his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. She stared endlessly in his eyes, her thoughtful gray eyes sparkling with happiness and love as she smiled gently at Percy. Her curly blonde hair was tied in a messy ponytail at the back of her head.

"Goodnight Wise Girl," Percy used his favorite nickname for her.

He leaned in to kiss her, and they kissed for what seemed like an eternity. Annabeth finally pulled away, and smiled up at Percy once more with the grin he had fallen in love with.

"Don't you go running off on me in the night, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth joked with a mischievous glint her eyes.

Percy raised his arms in mock surrender. "I wouldn't _dream_ of it!"

Annabeth smiled, gave Percy one more quick kiss on the lips. "See you in the morning, Percy!"

Percy watched as Annabeth turned, and treaded back towards cabin 6, the Athena cabin. He sighed happily, and turned to go into his own cabin.

As Percy got ready for bed, he replayed his day with Annabeth in his head. They had eaten breakfast at their separate tables, and then gotten together to train. They had raced up the climbing wall, being careful not to get spewed by the lava. They had had a sword fight, Percy with Riptide and Annabeth with her dagger. They had continued like this throughout the morning, attempting to do archery, having races, even trying to play basketball. Needless to say, Percy and Annabeth were very competitive.

After lunch, Percy had taught some of the younger kids sword fighting, and Annabeth had retreated back to the Athena cabin to put some finishing touches on her Mount Olympus designs.

After dinner, they had gone for a romantic walk along the beach.

 _Yes,_ thought Percy as he climbed into his bunk and drifted off to sleep, _today was a good day._

Percy woke up in the middle of the night with the strangest feeling that he was needed somewhere. He glanced at the digital clock that sat beside his bed. It read 3:43am. Unsure of what he was doing, Percy pulled himself out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and one of his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. He felt his legs walk him towards the door, and he pushed it open and crept outside.

It was eerily quiet outside, and Percy realized that he must be the only person awake at the entire camp. He had never seen Camp Half-Blood so quiet, though he had never been outside so late at night during his time at camp either. The threat of the cleaning harpies had been enough to keep him inside.

Surprisingly though, none of the cleaning harpies came to eat Percy as he crept silently past the mess hall and down toward the shore. He smiled to himself. Of course, he was going to the beach. It made sense that the beach was Percy's favorite place, given that he was the son of Poseidon and all. Still, it was disconcerting that Percy had no idea where he was going, as if his legs were walking themselves.

Finally, Percy arrived at the beach and sat down in the soft sand. He stared out into Long Island Sound. Percy felt like he was waiting for something, though he didn't know what.

Even though he heard nothing, Percy felt the presence of someone behind him. He turned to see a lady walking towards him. She was at least seven feet tall, and she had a face that radiated beauty and power. Percy knew right away that he was in the presence of a goddess.

Somehow, Percy didn't find it perturbing that there was a goddess walking towards him. In the dead of the night, it seemed a very likely thing to happen. As he watched, the woman shrank back to average size, though she was still tall. Her expression was one of superiority and power, as if she was usually above meeting with mortals like Percy. She had on a flowing white gown, and a golden crown adorned her long black hair. She was covered in golden jewelry: golden bangles that went around her wrists and arms, golden ring that surrounded her long fingers, and gold earrings were threaded through her ears. She stared down at Percy as if she was expecting something from him.

Percy looked away. "Hera."

"Indeed, Perseus Jackson," she said regally.

"What do you want?" Percy snapped, not in the mood to deal with a goddess.

The corner of Hera's mouth twitched. "Right down to business, I see."

Percy glared up at her. They had never gotten along.

"Right," Hera said, and to Percy surprise, she sat down next to him.

"Percy Jackson," Hera said, staring him right in the eyes, "It would seem that the gods are in some need of assistance."

"Again?" Percy raised an eyebrow, "Not like them to come out and admit it."

"Indeed," agreed Hera, "But the gods do not know I am here, I am no messenger. Zeus would be simply enraged if he knew I was here. He has called off all contact between gods and demigods. No, they do not know I am here."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because, child, you are part of my plan."

"Your plan?"

"The next great prophecy is beginning, and I need my heroes. Seven of them."

"The next great prophecy?" asked Percy, "The first prophecy Rachel told last summer? _Seven Half-Bloods must answer the call..._ "

" _To storm or fire the world must fall…_ " Hera finished, "Yes, yes that one."

"But y-you said you needed your heroes. You mean that… _I'm_ part of that prophecy? _I'm_ one of you heroes?"

"Yes, demigod," Hera said, "Yes you are."

"So I'm one of the seven-?"

" _Yes_ , you pea-brain, you are!" exploded Hera, "How many times does it take for you to get that?"

"Yeesh," Percy said, "Sorry."

Hera already seemed to have forgotten about her anger. "Yes, Percy Jackson, you are a big part in my plan. An exchange. An exchange to bring the camps together. It is dangerous, very dangerous, but must be done. Though Zeus will be furious when he finds out…"

"The _two_ camps?" asked Percy. "An exchange? Hera, what are you talking about?"

Hera glared at him. "You should start to know me as Juno, child. As for exchanges… You will be exchanged with the son of the sky, my gift. I need him to bring my heroes together. The forge, and the dove."

Percy gaped at Hera. "You're crazy," he said.

Hera raised her eyebrows at him. "Maybe so, young hero, but my words will all make sense soon enough. I have my reasons for everything I do. As for you, Perseus Jackson, your part has started. The exchange. I will have to wipe your memory."

"Wipe my memory? Of what?"

Hera stared at him gravely. "Everything."

"Everything?" Percy's eyes bugged out. "But… Camp… Annabeth… Quests-"

Hera held up her hand for silence.

"I will not steal your memories," Hera said, "I will only hide them in your mind, where you cannot see them. They will come back to you in time. It is the only way. It is all part of my plan."

Percy looked at her in shock. "You really are insane!"

Hera glared at him. "My plan has commenced, son of the sea god, you are the first step. Are you ready to lose your memories?"

Percy tried to back away, but it was too late. Hera thrust an arm out towards him, and he collapsed. He was so going get Hera the next time he saw her. He felt his memory fade away, his mind go blank. The last things he saw before his world dissolved into darkness were Annabeth's piercing grey eyes.


	2. Annabeth

**A/N: Yay! Second chapter. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, favourited and followed my story so far! Keep 'em coming! Thanks so much to my very first reviewer, AnnabethChase1218, your kind words really made my day! This chapter is for you.**

* * *

 **Annabeth**

 **"** **Goodnight, Seaweed Brain,"** Annabeth Chase told her boyfriend Percy Jackson, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Staring up into Percy's beautiful sea-green eyes, Annabeth couldn't help but smile as he gave her that goofy grin that she loved. Percy wrapped his arms around Annabeth's waist, pulling her in close. His hair was all mussed from their walk along the beach, and he smelled like the sea. Annabeth felt safe in Percy's arms.

"Goodnight Wise Girl," Percy told her, smiling at the use of his nickname for her.

Then they kissed, and Annabeth felt a warm bubble of happiness expanding in her chest. She was sure she had never been quite as happy as she was that very moment. They kissed for what felt like forever, and when Annabeth finally pulled away, she couldn't keep the grin off her face. Percy smiled gently at the sight of her grin.

"Don't you go running off on me in the night, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth teased, grinning mischievously though she wasn't sure why.

Percy raised his hands in mock surrender. "I wouldn't _dream_ of it!"

Annabeth giggled, and couldn't help but give Percy one more quick kiss on the lips before turning back towards her cabin.

"See you in the morning, Percy," she called as she all but danced back towards the Athena cabin.

She could almost feel Percy's eyes on her back as she went up the steps, and once she got inside she went straight for the window, only to watch Percy run into his cabin and slam the door behind him. Annabeth giggled, not caring that all of her siblings were watching her.

As Annabeth waited for her turn in the bathroom and got on her pyjamas, she reviewed her day with Percy. They had played all sorts of competitive games in the morning: basketball, archery, wall climbing, dueling, you name it! Annabeth had won every game they had played. (Though she suspected Percy would protest otherwise.) After lunch, Annabeth had put the fishing touches on her Mount Olympus designs, which she thought looked great. She wasn't exactly sure what Percy had done; she hadn't been paying attention when he told her. They had finished off the day with a romantic walk along the beach.

Annabeth smiled to herself. It had been a great day.

In middle of the night, Annabeth suddenly woke up with the feeling that something was terribly wrong. She hit the light button on the little clock she kept by her bed in case of emergencies. The time read 4:01. Annabeth's heart rate slowly calmed down as she tried to convince herself that she was just being silly. It had probably just been a dream. Annabeth rolled her eyes at herself, and went back to sleep.

When Annabeth woke up the next morning, she was in a very good mood. She got dressed and headed down to the dining pavilion for breakfast. As she walked, she began planning out her day. All of her plans involved lots of Percy.

She glanced at the Poseidon table in hopes that Percy would be there already, but he wasn't. He was probably sleeping in, and Annabeth wasn't worried.

Annabeth got her breakfast, and scraped one of her eggs into the fire. She then devoured her bacon and eggs, anxious to go and wake up Percy to start their day. She headed over to his cabin, and knocked on the door. Nothing. She knocked again. Still nothing.

"Percy?" she called out through the door.

When no one came to the door, Annabeth rolled her eyes. Just like her Seaweed Brain to sleep in the day that she had planned everything out perfectly. Annabeth went over to the training area, half hoping to find Percy there, but mostly to help train some of the younger kids. After spending about an hour teaching a new daughter of Apollo how to use her dagger, Annabeth checked her watch. 10:21. Annabeth frowned. It was really unlike Percy to sleep in this late. Maybe something was wrong…?

Annabeth shook off the feeling. They _had_ stayed out pretty late the night before. Percy was probably just catching up on his sleep. That would be just like her Seaweed Brain.

Even so, Annabeth decided that it was time for Percy to wake up. She marched over to his cabin, and banged on the door.

"Percy!" she called. "Wake up!"

There was still no answer. Annabeth sighed. It was just like Percy to ruin her perfectly planned morning. What an idiot that boy was.

Annabeth found things to do for the next few hours, but her mind kept wandering back to Percy. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. There had to be something wrong. At 12:03, Annabeth marched over to the Poseidon cabin again, and pounded on the door as loud as she possibly could.

" _Percy_!" she screamed furiously. " _Wake up_!"

No one answered, but Annabeth was done waiting. She shoved open the door and marched into Percy's cabin. Annabeth stopped in the middle of the floor and caught her breath. It was nice in the cabin, with sun pouring in through the windows and the smell of the sea in the air. But there was no Percy in the bed. Annabeth went over and gingerly touched the sheets. Cold. No one had been in here for hours. Annabeth's hands went up and covered her mouth of their own accord, and she felt tears spring into her eyes. Annabeth took a couple of steps back, and then turned on her heel and sprinted out the door, her hands falling from her mouth.

She knew that the other campers were staring at her as she sprinted toward the big house with tears running down her face, but Annabeth didn't care. She needed help, and she needed it now.

Annabeth raced up the steps to the big house and rushed in, slamming the door behind her. She didn't have to call out for Chiron to come running to see what all the ruckus was.

Chiron trotted around the corner, and frowned at the sight of a desperate and slightly crazy looking Annabeth with tears still running down her face. Chiron was the activities director at the camp, but he had become mostly in charge since Dionysus (or Mr. D) can been called back up to mount Olympus. He was a centaur, and like a second father to Annabeth.

"Whatever is the matter, child?" Chiron asked, concern creasing his brow.

"I… my… it's…" gasped Annabeth, trying desperately to catch her breath and stop crying. " _Percy is gone!_ " Annabeth half-yelled.

"Gone?" Chiron was only slightly concerned. "Whatever do you mean?"

" _I MEAN HE'S GONE!_ " Annabeth all but screamed.

"My goodness, child," said Chiron. "Calm down! Deep breaths, yes, that's right. Now, come on into the living room, and tell me what happened."

The living room was coated in grape vines, a parting gift from Mr. D. There were a whole bunch of weird masks that covered the walls, and there was an old-style Pac-Man machine in one corner. Above the fireplace sat Seymour the leopard head, who was currently sleeping. Chiron sat Annabeth down on one of the couches, and made her explain everything.

As Annabeth's story unraveled, all the colour drained from Chiron's face, and he started to look very worried.

"Well?" Annabeth asked shakily. "Do you know where Percy is?"

Chiron looked nervous. "No, child, I don't. But maybe he's fine. Maybe he went on an emergency quest, or suddenly had to go home or- "

"Chiron?" asked Annabeth softly, "Do really believe that Percy would just leave without telling anybody? Not even me?'

Chiron sighed. "No Annabeth, I don't honestly believe that Percy would leave without telling anyone. It is unlike him."

Annabeth jumped up. "We need to tell everyone! We need to start looking for Percy right away!"

Chiron nodded slowly. "Yes, I think you're right. We will round everyone up."

Chiron grabbed the megaphone that Annabeth knew that he kept in case of emergencies. It was enchanted to be extremely loud; loud enough that it would be heard all over camp. As Annabeth circled the living room in restless, anxious circles, Chiron called an emergency meeting for everyone at Camp Half-Blood.

Within about ten minutes, there was a crowd of very confused campers gathered outside the big house. Most of them were complaining about whatever activity they had just been dragged away from. There were about fifty or sixty kids, not as many as there usually were in the summer, but still a lot for this time of year. Chiron finally managed to quiet everyone down.

"Why are we here?" someone called out from the crowd, and everyone began chattering again in agreement.

"Silence!" bellowed Chiron, and everyone suddenly went very quiet.

"We are here because a camper has gone missing," Chiron said, "And we need everyone's help to find him."

"How do you lose a camper?" someone shouted.

"Yeah!" shouted someone else. "Who have you lost?"

Chiron exhaled. "Percy Jackson."

There was a collective gasp from the crowd, and everyone's eyes grew round with terror. Drew from the Aphrodite cabin fainted. That girl was such a drama queen. It would have all looked fairly comical if the situation hadn't been so serious.

Annabeth felt a bit worried. What is no one wanted to help her look?

After the initial shock, everyone began chattering again, this time more desperately. If Percy Jackson could get kidnapped (assuming that was what had happened) could they too?

"Silence!" called Chiron again. "We need all your help to find Percy, and no one should be slacking off. Now be off."

Within a second, everyone was looking for Percy. They scoured every single inch of Camp Half-Blood, and no one had lunch that day. Annabeth searched harder than anyone, looking in every nook and cranny that she could think of.

Eventually, though, Annabeth went down to beach. She sat down in the soft sand, and stared out to sea, wishing that Percy would suddenly pop out of the water and say that it was all a big joke. She wished that Poseidon would find Percy, and suddenly he would wash right up on this beach.

The smell of the sea reminded Annabeth of Percy. He always smelled the same way. Annabeth wanted to keep looking for him, but somehow she had the feeling that she may not see him again for a long time. That was, if she ever saw him again. So, sitting on the beach, Annabeth did the only thing that she considered to be logical. She cried. Annabeth cried for what seemed like hours, and then she just sat on the beach doing nothing. Nobody came and found her. Even if someone saw her, they left her alone, and Annabeth was grateful for that.

Finally Annabeth realized that it was starting to get dark, and maybe she should go back to her cabin. She ignored the looks the other campers gave her as she stalked back to her cabin. They weren't all bad looks. Some of them were filled with sympathy, or concern. Then were the people who just looked at her strangely, taking in her red eyes and tearstained face.

Annabeth didn't sleep that night. She lay in her bed, but the only things keeping her in her cabin were the stupid cleaning harpies. Annabeth lay in her bed for hours, not ever getting one bit of sleep. She lay there playing with little pieces of paper, thinking about Percy. Every time an idea of Percy's whereabouts struck her, Annabeth would sit up straight in bed. When she decided that _no, that idea is ridiculous_ , she would lie back down, sighing in frustration.

By the next morning most people had given up looking for Percy. It seemed like most of them just couldn't be bothered, but Chiron tried to assure Annabeth otherwise.

"I'm sorry, child," Chiron told her, "But we can't keep looking for Percy forever. We must continue training. We never know when we'll need it."

Annabeth felt thoroughly let down by everyone, but she decided she couldn't blame them. If it had been anyone _but_ Percy who had gone missing…well…she probably would have done the same.

But that didn't stop Annabeth from searching everywhere she could think of, and that meant _everywhere_! Annabeth started by searching under all the tables in the dining pavilion. (Why Percy would be under a table, she had no idea.) She then proceeded to spend the morning and half the afternoon searching over and under everything that she could possibly think of. Part of Annabeth worried that she may be going insane, but mostly she didn't care, as long as she found Percy. By midafternoon, Annabeth was exhausted, and she retreated back down to the beach, the only place she felt close to Percy.

The smell of the sea in the air reminded her of the way Percy smelled when she was wrapped in his arms. She caught some of the water on the tip of her finger, and pressed it to her lips. It tasted the same way Percy's lips tasted every time he kissed her.

Annabeth sat down and buried her head in her arms. She didn't know what to do; she was so lost without Percy. This time Annabeth didn't bother breaking into tears. It wasn't something that helped much. For hours Annabeth sat there, not crying, not moving, not _living_ without Percy Jackson.

Once again, no one bothered her that afternoon. She was sure they saw her. Some of her friends had probably even watched her for a while, trying to decide whether or not to talk to her. Annabeth was glad they hadn't tried to talk to her, because if anyone tried to comfort her, she would surely start crying.

As she walked back to her cabin, one of her siblings forced some food into her hands, which she devoured after realizing she'd eaten nothing since the morning before.

The second night went much the same as the last one.

 _'_ _Sleep!'_ complained her body.

 _'_ _Think! Search!'_ protested her mind.

In the end, her mind and body compromised. Annabeth lay awake in bed most of the night, every now and then drifting off to sleep and then waking up feeling very guilty, though she wasn't quite sure why.

The next morning, Annabeth's desperation from the day before turned to extreme anger. After some of her sibling from the Athena cabin forced her to eat breakfast, Annabeth marched around the camp in a bit of a fury. Everyone cleared out of her path. She sought out everyone that could possibly know anything about Percy's disappearance, and questioned them until they started to sweat. Annabeth tried so hard to demand the answers that nobody seemed to have.

In the end, Annabeth just went back to the beach once more.

The third night, Annabeth's body won out, and she finally fell asleep for real. Her dreams were normal for a demigod, nonsensical things with monsters, giants, and a bizarre woman made out of earth. Some of her dreams were just regular mortal nightmares about what could have happened to Percy. Annabeth was sure that she screamed more than once in her sleep that night.

But suddenly, something in her dream changed.

She was standing on a bridge over the Grand Canyon, the wind roaring in her ears. Instinctively, Annabeth brought her arms up over her head to protect her eyes from the roaring wind. Annabeth stumbled around, trying not to let the wind blow her into the canyon.

"What do you want with me?" Annabeth screamed into the wind. "Why am I here."

"Come here child," a voice said, "It will be the answer to your problems."

Annabeth spun around desperately, trying to find the speaker. "Where are you?" she screamed again. "The answer to my problems? Percy?"

"Don't look for me," said the voice. "I am only in your head."

"Hera?"

"Indeed, child," said Hera's voice in her head. "Come to the Grand Canyon tomorrow morn. Look for the boy in one shoe. He will be the answer to your problem."

"What? Why? You hate me! What are you–? Why–? How–?" but the vision was already fading. Annabeth stumbled and fell of the bridge, toppling into the canyon. Just as she was about to hit the ground, Annabeth jolted awake.

Annabeth woke again suddenly in the Athena cabin. She was shivering, but she felt something that she hadn't felt in what seemed like forever: _hope_.

Annabeth leapt out of bed and got dressed as fast as she possibly could manage. She ran out the door, and began to march towards the Big House. Now that she thought that she would probably find Percy, Annabeth felt mostly mad at him. First she would probably kiss him. The she would most likely judo-flip him.

In no time at all, Will Solace had lent her his chariot. After asking around, Annabeth finally found someone who would go with her, as Chiron wouldn't let her go alone. Finally, Annabeth was all ready to go she stood ready on the chariot, Butch the son of Iris beside her.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Annabeth grinned. _Finally_ , she was going to find her Seaweed-Brain.

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Annabeth! We all know that she doesn't get to judo-filp her seaweed brain for another six months! I was thinking of doing Jason next, yes? Review please! I like constructive criticism as well.**


	3. Jason

**Jason**

 **Jason Grace was a rule-follower.** He always had been. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing; it was helpful in battle scenarios. It was good for teamwork. Good for trust. Not much else.

Sometimes Jason had a sneaking suspicion that if he wasn't the son of Jupiter, the golden boy, and the most powerful demigod at camp… He would be considered a dork. Jason was pretty sure he had almost never broken a rule in his life.

Of course, it was all very _Roman_ of him, very united, so nobody at Camp Jupiter would judge, but being the son of the sky god did help.

That was why Jason was surprised when he suddenly decided to get up and leave his cabin in the middle of the night.

 _'_ _Where am I going?'_ he wondered as he got out of bed and pulled some clothes on.

As he changed, Jason glanced over at the little clock sitting beside his bed. It read 3:44am.

Once Jason was wearing a purple camp Jupiter t-shirt and a pair of jeans, he left his praetor cabin. Most of the time Jason loved having his own personal cabin, but sometimes he missed his friends from the Fifth Cohort.

Jason had never been outside during the night at Camp Jupiter, and it was a little creepy. It was empty except for the odd ghost, and it was deathly quiet. Jason had no idea why he was up at this ungodly hour, so he let his feet do the talking, and take him where they pleased.

A few minutes later Jason found himself on the Field of Mars, below the battle fort still left over from the previous night's war games. He flew himself up to sit on the fort wall. Jason like being up high, close to the stars and the sky. It was also the only time he ever felt close to his father. He leaned back, watching the stars twinkle in the clear night sky.

"Beautiful, is it not?" a voice asked from beside him.

Jason nearly fell off the wall. He whipped around to find a woman sitting bedside him. She was taller than average, and her face was stern and stately, but also powerful and beautiful. She wore a blue dress, and a goatskin cloak was draped over her shoulders. She too gazed up at the stars, but Jason knew that she was watching him. He was in the presence of a goddess.

"Juno," Jason said, anticipating trouble. When a god decided to visit you, it was never a good thing.

"Jason Grace," Juno told the sky. "The son of the sky; my gift."

"Your what?"

"My gift," Juno finally looked at him. "A condolence prize, you might say. One child of the sky god in a family is offensive enough, but two…" Juno shook her head and turned away.

Jason was thoroughly confused. Why did gods always have to talk in riddles?

"Get to the point," he told Juno gruffly.

She glanced back at him and raised her eyebrows. "Anxious, I see."

"Anxious to get back to bed," Jason grumbled.

Juno sighed. "Very well. You see, it would seem that the gods are having some…hmm… troubles, shall we say?"

"Troubles?" Jason didn't like the sound of that. "What is it this time?"

"The Prophecy of Seven is beginning," Juno stared off into the distance. "I need my seven heroes. And you, Jason Grace, must bring them together."

"The Prophecy of Seven?" Jason asked. "You mean the one that people have been trying to solve for thousands of years? _Seven Half-Bloods shall answer the call..._ It's really starting? _Now?_ "

Juno just stared at him, but that was all Jason needed.

"So… _I'm_ one of the seven half-bloods?"

"Indeed, child," Juno smiled. "You are quick to catch on. The quest must begin with you. You will be exchanged with the son of the sea. You must bring together the forge and the dove, so that they may free me from my cage. Yes, you are the start of it all."

Jason shook his head in amazement. "Why are you telling me all this?"

Juno sighed. "Because you will remember none of it."

Before Jason question that, she continued.

"Tell me Jason Grace, what do you think about love?" Juno asked.

Jason was flabbergasted. "W-What?"

Juno looked at him sympathetically. "Have you not yet learned what love is? Are you so dense that you have never seen love in action?"

"What? No, of course I know what love is!" Jason paused and shook his head. "I think."

Juno simply stared at him.

"My point is," Jason continued, "why are you asking me this? You're not even the goddess of love! You're, like, the goddess of family, and marriage, or something."

Juno looked irritated. "That Venus! Always getting all the attention for love!"

"Well she is the _goddess_ of love…" Jason started, but he stuttered to a halt when he realized Juno was glaring at him.

"Family!" Juno exclaimed. "Marriage! Does that not all _need_ love?"

Jason thought that it would be a mistake to remind her of all the times in history where there were arranged marriages. Forced families where no one was happy and there was definitely no trace of love. However, Jason was sure that that was not what Juno was getting at, so he stayed quiet.

"Do you not want love?" Juno asked.

Jason was once more caught off guard. "What? _No!_ I mean yes! I mean, I guess I do…"

"What about that Reyna girl?" continued Juno. "Do you love her?"

"Reyna? I-I think she _wants_ me to love her.

"That is not what I asked."

"I don't know!" Jason hated all these questions. "I mean … I like Reyna. She's a nice girl."

Juno just stared at him again. That stare was really starting to irk Jason.

"Fine!" he finally yelled. "No, I don't love Reyna! Are you happy?"

Juno shrugged. "Not particularly, though it does make my life somewhat easier."

Jason really wanted to punch Juno in the face.

"What if I told you that I could find you love?" Juno asked. "Someone perfect for you. I could drop you into her life with a snap of my fingers.

For a heartbeat, Jason was tempted. Then he remembered whom he was talking to.

"That's not why you're here," he decided. "Don't think I can't tell a bribe when I see one. Get to the point. Why are you _really_ here?"

Juno sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot. It would have made my life easier. But since you insist on knowing, you are part of my plan, Jason Grace. The Prophecy of Seven starts with you. The earth mother is rising. You will be switched with the son of Poseidon. You will be my champion, Jason Grace. You will be my hero. Your mission is great, but only the start of it all. Though you may well finish it all as well. _To storm or fire the world must fall._ "

"What are you talking about?" A sense of dread was creeping up Jason's back like an army of ants. He wanted to run far away from this insane goddess. Unfortunately, Jason was frozen, glued to the wall that he was sitting on. "The son of Poseidon? You mean Neptune? Poseidon is-"

"Greek," Juno finished. "Yes, certainly Greek, and definitely a son of Poseidon. He is as Greek as you are Roman, child, but a born leader. The most powerful demigod from each camp shall be exchanged. My plan has commenced!"

Jason had already asked once, and he hadn't really gotten an answer, but he decided to try once more. "Why are you telling me all of this? Gods don't just _give_ us warnings. They let us figure it out on our own, whatever the consequences. So why tell me?

"Because," Juno said, 'you won't remember a word of it until it is too late to warn anyone."

"Why?"

Juno was playing with her fingers, flexing and cracking them as if preparing to do something.

"For my plan to work," Juno said, "I am going to have to wipe your memory of everything you have ever known."

" _What?_ But I'm a praetor of the Twelfth Legion! If this is a time of crisis, I can't just leave my camp when they need me the most! If I go, Octavian will most likely be raised to praetor, and Octavian's a much stronger force than he seems to be. Even if Octavian doesn't become praetor, how can Reyna do the job on her own? If I were to leave the Twelfth Legion right now it would be a disaster."

"Ah, yes," Juno said, "but this is an exchange of leadership. I'm sure the Twelfth Legion will find someone much better than Octavian to rise to praetor. Even so, you do not have a choice in the matter. I did not come here to be bargained with. I'm sorry Jason Grace, but I must wipe your memory. Are you ready to find true love?"

"Wait! No!" Jason cried. "I can't leave camp Jupiter! What about my friends? Hazel, Dakota, Gwendolyn-"

"True love," Juno reminded him, and before he had a chance to reply, Juno snapped her fingers above Jason's head.

Jason could feel the silent, but deadly blanket of magic settle over him. He swayed on his perch on the wall, and began to feel the blackness edge into his vision, and into his mind. He slowly felt all of his memories fade, as though a curtain was being pulled across his memories. Jason collapsed, falling from the wall. Just as he hit the ground, everything went black.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope everyone liked chapter 3! For some reason I really like the idea of Juno bribing Jason with the idea of Piper. :)**

 **To Someone the World Forgot: thank you sooooo much for your helpful review, it was really useful when I was writing this chapter. I also went back and fixed up the earlier chapters. Thanks for checking out my story, too!**

 **Anyways, I'm thinking maybe Piper next, then Leo. How does that sound?**

 **-Helena (aka GollyGeeWhiz)**


	4. Piper

**A/N: Yay! New chapter! Sorry it's been so long. I don't really have an excuse. Please note: the first part of this chapter is almost directly from the book, but I needed it to start my chapter. I do not own it. I also don't own anything else that you recognize as canon. Without further ado, on with the story!**

* * *

 **Piper**

 **It was a lovely day at the beach.**

Piper McLean was so happy that she finally got to spend some time with her dad without some rabid horde of paparazzi popping in, or any crazy fans desperate for autographs and pictures. Piper knew that being a movie star was hard, but sometimes she was convinced that it was harder on her than it was on her dad.

Piper and her dad, Tristan McLean, were sitting on a picnic blanket near the beach. She was a having a great time, surfing and talking with her dad, but as her dad handed her a sandwich and they settled down for lunch, Piper decided that it was time to tell him something that had been at the back of her conscience all day. With a movie star dad, Piper was always trying to get his attention, but yesterday she'd pulled her biggest heist yet – driving that "borrowed" BMW out of the dealership. She really hadn't stolen it – she'd simply asked if she could have it, but it wasn't like anyone was going to believe _that_.

She set down her sandwich.

"What's wrong?" her dad asked, handing her a soda.

"Dad, there's something-" Piper began

"Hang on Pipes," her dad set down his drink. "That's a serious face. Ready for any three questions?"

Any three questions was one of the only games that Piper ever got to play with her dad. It was her dad's way to stay connected with her in the shortest amount of time possible. They were allowed to ask each other any three questions, and they both had to answer honestly.

Piper often asked the same questions. For instance, this time she asked about her mom, something she asked about quite a lot. For a while they had fun, discussing Piper's mom, who had disappeared right after Piper was born, and comparing Greek and Cherokee by discussing legends and myths.

Suddenly, Piper heard a car door slam behind them. Piper turned to see her father's assistant Jane marching towards them with a triumphant expression on her face. Piper's heart sank. Jane must have been alerted about the "stolen" car. Piper prayed that she would fall down, but she had no such luck.

Piper had to tell her dad first. "Dad, " she said urgently. "Something happened yesterday…"

But her dad had spotted Jane too. He frowned, realizing that Jane wouldn't be here if the situation wasn't serious. Piper watched helplessly as her dad told her he'd be back, and trudged across the sand to meet Jane.

Piper could tell that Jane was giving her dad all the facts about the stolen car, as she occasionally glared and pointed at Piper while she talked. Piper looked at the ground, hardly daring to meet her father's eyes.

But as her father walked towards her a disappointed and betrayed look in his eyes, Piper had to look up.

"You told me you would try, Piper," he said.

Piper sighed. "Dad, I hate that school. I can't do it. I wanted to tell you about the BMW but-"

"They've expelled you. A car, Piper? You're sixteen next year! I would buy you any car you want. How could you-"

"You mean _Jane_ would buy me a car?" Piper burst out, unable to contain her anger anymore. "Dad, just listen for once. Don't make me wait for you to ask your stupid three questions. I want to go to a regular school. I want _you_ to take me to parents' night, not Jane. Or homeschool me! I learned so much when we read about Greece together. We could do that all the time! We could-"

"Don't make this about me," her dad said. "I do the best I can, Piper. We've had this conversation"

Her dad sighed. "Jane's talked to the police, brokered a deal. The dealership won't press charges, but you have to go to a boarding school in Nevada. They specialize in problems…in kids with tough issues."

Piper's voice quavered. "That's what I am. A problem."

Piper had to try hard not to cry. She tried to convince her dad to do something else – _anything_ else. But her dad wouldn't cave in. In the end Piper her found herself marching over to Jane, who was standing calculatingly and holding up a plane ticket. As she go into Jane's car without a word, Piper stared back across the beach at her dad, who was slowly pacing across the sand, staring sadly at his feet. Piper fought back tears.

"So, I am going to get my stuff?" asked Piper after a very long silence.

"Already got everything you need for you," said Jane shortly, without taking her eyes off the road.

Piper sighed, staring back out the window. Of course she had. Piper was just another problem that Jane could cross off her list. Piper wouldn't even get to see her house one last time. Not that she cared about that house. All she really cared about was her dad, and now she wouldn't see him again for months. It may even be years before they _really_ got to talk again.

When they finally arrived at the airport Piper got out of the car quickly, and Jane followed suit, though she didn't look happy about it. Jane handed Piper a small duffle bag. Piper stared down at it, wondering how it could possibly hold everything she needed to go and live somewhere. But there was no going back now.

"Ahem," said Jane.

Piper looked up and realized that Jane was holding out a plane ticket.

Jane smirked at her. "I trust that you know how get on a plane on your own. Once you get to Nevada, there will be someone waiting for you there to take you to your new boarding school."

Piper stared at her feet and said nothing. She didn't trust herself to talk without starting to cry. And there was no way she was going to cry in front of Jane.

Jane finally left, and Piper almost managed to avoid saying anything as she checked her bag and went trough security. When she finally boarded the plane and took her seat by the window, Piper allowed herself to cry. She didn't make a peep, but the tears streamed silently down her face as she watched her home shrink and disappear behind the clouds below.

When Piper's plane finally landed in Nevada, she walked slowly to the baggage claim, reluctant to actually get there and go to this boarding school for _problem kids_. When she arrived at the baggage claim she sadly watched all the families reunite, holding up big signs that said stuff like ' _Welcome home, my beautiful family!'_ in big, colorful, handwritten letters. Piper's eyes scanned the crowd warily, finally settling on a man who was holding up a tiny printed sign that said _Piper McLean_. She sighed, and treaded over to him.

"Are you Piper McLean?" the man asked shortly.

Piper nodded.

The man gave her a dry smile. "I'm Mr. Higgis. You can call me Mr. Higgis. Go fetch your bag, and we'll be on our way."

Piper nodded bitterly, and once she had retrieved her bag Mr. Higgis lead her outside to a small, green van. Piper got into the front seat, and the man started at her sourly.

"Get comfortable," he told her. "It's going to be a long ride."

The drive lasted at least three hours, but Piper didn't try to read, or to do anything else, for that matter. She simply stared out the window, dreaming of what her life could been like if only her dad wasn't a movie star. If only her mom hadn't abandoned them. Mr. Higgis didn't say a word, which was fine with Piper. By the time that they finally reached the school, Piper hadn't spoken a word in hours.

As Piper gazed up at her new school, she couldn't help thinking about how much it looked like a prison. It was a huge brick building at least four stories high that stretched far across the campus that it was placed on. The field was empty apart from the odd student lounging about. As they passed Mr. Higgis yelled at the lounging students to get back to class, though most of them ignored him and he didn't try very hard to enforce it.

Piper tired to look inconspicuous as Mr. Higgis lead her through the many corridors of her new school, but it was hard since she had a whole bunch of luggage and a teacher leading her down the hall. Eventually they reached what Piper could only assume was the office. Mr. Higgis lead her in, introducing her as the new girl and leaving quickly.

The lady at the front desk flipped trough her pages dutifully. "Let's see… It's Piper McLean, right dear? Okay. You're 15? Alright. Going into the tenth grade? Good, good. Okay."

Piper nodded to all of her questions, still not really trusting herself to speak.

The lady at the desk smiled at her, handing her a slip of paper. "Here's your timetable, dear. Oh and…" she quickly scrawled something across a slip of paper. "You'll be in room 24. I'm sure that one of your roommates will show up there after dinner, which is in about…" she glanced at her watch. "Well, what d'ya know! Dinner is right about now. I can show you down to the dining hall, if you'd like."

Piper nodded to say that she would like that. The lady probably thought that she was mute or something by now, but Piper didn't really care. She didn't feel like speaking. Once the lady led her to the dining hall and pointed out the table where the grade tens sat, Piper finally muttered a 'thanks', which made the lady beam. Then she plodded over the table the lady had pointed out, staring at her toes as she walked and trying not to attract attention. When she sat down she got a few dirty looks from her new classmates, but otherwise they ignored her.

Piper picked at her food, not hungry though she hadn't eaten in hours. When dinner was finally over, Piper worked up the courage to talk to the girl beside her.

"Excuse me," she said. "I'm new here. Apparently I'm in room 24… Do you know anyone else who's in room 24?"

The other girl looked at her like she was something nasty on the bottom of a shoe, but answered her anyways. "Um, yeah. Mel over there is in room 24. She'll help you."

Piper followed the girl's gaze to the girl called Mel. When she looked back at the first girl, she was already walking away, glancing back at Piper with a look of pure disgust on her face.

Piper walked over to the girl called Mel. "Um, hi. Are you Mel?"

The girl seemed to scan her distastefully. "Mel is what my _friends_ call me. _You_ can call me Melanie."

"Okay… I'm new here, and apparently I'm in room 24. I've been told that you're in that room too. Can you show me where that is?"

Melanie looked around desperately like she might be the unluckiest girl on the planet. When she realized that no one else was going to show Piper to her room, she sighed in exasperation.

"Fine."

Melanie stalked off, and Piper had to jog to catch up. She followed Melanie trough the many corridors and up several flights of stairs until they reached what Piper could only assume was the top floor. Mel explained shortly that there was a girls' and a boys' corridor, (both on the top floor) and this part was the girls' corridor. There were usually four people to a room.

Finally they reached a room labeled 24. Melanie scanned Piper over one more time with distaste. "Here's my—our room. You can take the empty bed. Don't. Touch. Anyone's. Stuff."

Piper watched her stalk away, and then turned the door nob into the new room. Two girls were sitting on their beds, deep in a very gossipy conversation. The room was pretty big, big enough for four single beds, and some walking room. Each bed had a dresser and a table with a lamp beside it. Piper could immediately tell which bed would be hers. Posters of celebrities, singers and movie stars surrounded three of the beds. (Including a poster of Piper's dad, the horror!) Photographs of the other girls with their friends and boys sat on the bedside tables. Only one of the beds was empty of pictures and posters, and Piper couldn't help but think sadly of how she had nothing to put around her bed. A curtain could be pulled around each bed, allowing a little bit of privacy. A single, small bathroom sat in the corner of the room.

Piper observed all of this in a moment. The other two girls finally realized that she was there, and scanned her over with hostility. _Seriously,_ Piper thought _, I'm_ not _a hunk of meat._

One of the girls wrinkled her nose at Piper like she smelled bad. "Who are _you?_ "

Piper sighed. "I'm your new roommate."

* * *

Piper's first couple weeks at the Wilderness School dragged by as slowly as snails. She sat at the back of every classroom, trying hard not to be noticed. Of course, it didn't really work. Her roommates liked to bully—sorry _tease_ her about her race.

"What _are_ you?" they would ask.

Piper would calmly explain that she was half Cherokee and half white. She would explain how her dad was a Cherokee artist (well, she wasn't lying) and how she had never known her mom. But her roommates certainly weren't an entertaining bunch. They would gossip about her loudly even when she was in the room. Her hair, her clothes…Piper found herself looking down at her clothes self-consciously. What was wrong with them?

Some of the boys tried to flirt with her but most of them knew that she was the mortal enemy of the popular clique, and talking to her would put their own popularity at stake.

So Piper spent all of her class time sitting at the back of the room, never answering questions, and doing her work in silence. She stayed away from her dorm most of the time, anxious to avoid the taunting and teasing coming from whom Piper had now determined as her worst enemies. She would stay outside until the teachers yelled at her to come in, giving herself the reputation as a troublemaker. Sometimes she would just ask the teachers if she could _please, please_ just stay out for a few more minutes, and to her surprise they often blinked a few times, then agreed. Of course, they always came back a few minutes later and dragged her to the principal's office.

Needless to say, Piper did not think the Wilderness School was helping her out much.

* * *

One day about two weeks after Piper arrived at the Wilderness School, she was having a particularly bad day. She'd woken up and gotten dressed without bothering to look in the mirror. When she went down to breakfast she had started to get little sidelong glances and unfriendly little giggles from the other students. She rushed to a mirror, only to see that her roommates had drawn a big black circle around each of her eyes, and written _stupid_ on her forehead. Feeling tears pricking her eyes, Piper had fled from the dining hall amongst the laughter from the other students. On top of that, none of the teachers bothered to do anything, either. More than ever that day, Piper wished she could simply disappear into a hole in the ground and never immerge.

As Piper walked down the hall with her books in hand, trying to ignore the snickers that came her way every time she passed someone in the hallway, she noticed a commotion down the hall. She arrived just in time to see a woman drag a boy into the school by his ear.

She dropped him to the floor, yelling, "Here, take him! I've had enough! He's your problem now!"

She stormed out, leaving the rather dejected looking boy to stand up and look around. He looked sort of like a Latino Santa's elf, small and scrawny with curly brown hair. He looked around Piper's age, maybe 14 or 15. For a second Piper saw the hurt register in his eyes, but then he seemed to remember that everyone was watching him, and he grinned widely.

"Hey people!" he said, opening his arms like he wanted a hug. "I know you can't help at stare at Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme, but don't you have places to be? As much as I _love_ to be the reason that people skip class, I think you people _must_ have at least _some_ form of a life! Chop, chop!"

Everyone seemed to take that as an order, and the shuffled away, whispering and gossiping about this new boy. Piper stayed for a second, watching as the all the boy's (Leo, had he said?) energy seem to disappear. He glanced at the floor and shuffled his shoes gloomily before realizing that Piper was still watching him. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and tired to wink, to which Piper rolled her eyes and walked away.

She tried to believe that this boy Leo was just like any other boy in this stupid school, but she couldn't. She felt a weird connection to him, like they had something very important in common. But Piper just brushed it off, and went to her next class.

The next morning Piper arrived early for her first class. Most of the students took a few minutes between breakfast and their first class to talk to their friends, but since Piper had no friends, it was easier to just go to class. She took her normal spot in the back of the room, and pulled out a paper and pen. As she waited for the rest of the class to arrive she doodled aimlessly on her paper, making an incomprehensible pattern of swiggles and loops. Piper saw someone walk into the class through her peripheral vision, but didn't look up. That is, until the someone sat down in the desk beside her. Then she looked up. The new boy, Leo, was now sitting beside her, humming and tapping his finger on his desk.

"What are you doing?" Piper hissed, leaning across her desk towards Leo.

Leo looked confused. "What d'you mean?"

Piper sighed. "You're sitting beside me. No one ever sits beside me. You could pick any other chair in the classroom. So why are you sitting beside _me_?"

Leo shrugged. "I want to." Then he put on a huge grin. "Congratulations! You have just won the lottery! Your prize: you get to sit beside the amazing Leo Valdez for an entire class! That's me!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "You're weird, Leo. And I know who you are!"

"You do?"

Piper nodded. "I saw you come in yesterday."

"Ah," Leo looked embarrassed. "That."

Piper leaned in closer to Leo. "So, why are you here?"

"What?"

"What did you do that ended you up in this prison—sorry, _school_?"

"Oh," Leo seemed reluctant to say anything, but seemed to decide he could trust Piper. "I—"

But at that moment the rest of the class started to file in, causing Piper to plop back into her seat, and Leo to hiss "Forget it."

* * *

"Wait up!"

Piper was walking down the hall after her last class, the sounds of a school surrounding her. People called out to their friends to wait up, and people laughed, chatted and gossiped. Piper didn't turn at the loud 'wait up!' that had echoed through the hallways, because she knew it wasn't for her. Nobody ever told _her_ to wait up.

"Hey, wait!" Leo came to a stop beside her, panting slightly. "Jeeze, you'd think you were deaf! Didn't you hear me calling you?"

Piper was startled. "I didn't know you were talking to me. Or even that it was you, for that matter."

"Hmph," said Leo, apparently unsatisfied. "Walk?"

"Sure."

As they started walking, Leo spoke up again. "So, I don't think I caught your name, pretty girl!"

"Didn't tell it to you!" Piper muttered. Then she sighed at Leo quizzical look, and answered properly. "Piper."

Leo nodded. "I approve. You can keep your name. Let's go!"

"Where are we going?"

Leo smiled a mischievous grin that made Piper think that this guy should never be trusted with tools or sharp objects.

"Wherever we end up!" Leo grinned.

In the end, they ended up relaxing under a tall maple tree outside. Piper watched as Leo pulled some tiny tools out of his pockets, and began fiddling with a tiny piece of metal.

"So, Leo," said Piper. "You never answered my question. Why are you here?"

Leo shrugged. "Nothing big. Ran away a few times."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "How _many_ times?"

"Like, six."

Piper laughed. "How come?"

Leo wouldn't meet Piper's eyes. "My mom died when I was eight. Foster homes… well, they never really sat well with me. I always ended running away."

Suddenly Piper felt horrible for laughing. "Oh. I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Fire." Leo said the word like it explained everything. Piper knew that there were details of the story that Leo wasn't telling her, but she didn't push for more information.

Leo looked up, and met her eyes again. "What about you? What's a pretty girl like you doing in this dump?"

Piper smiled. "I steal stuff."

"Somehow I don't find that so hard to believe. What did you steal?"

"A BMW."

Leo grinned a huge grin, admiration filling up his babyish face. "You're kidding! Seriously? A BMW? That's _awesome_!"

Piper blushed. "Well, I didn't actually steal it. I just asked the dealer if I could borrow it for a little while. He said I could. But then the police caught me."

"Uh huh," said Leo disbelievingly. "Sure."

They a pause, but Leo broke it by asking, "How come I haven't seen you with your other friends?"

"I don't have any."

"You. Miss Piper, um—"

"McLean."

"Thank you. You, Miss Piper McLean, do not have any friends? Why not?"

Piper shrugged. "I guess I just don't get along with people."

"Nonsense," said Leo. "You are getting along with me, and I happen to be _very_ annoying."

Piper laughed. "Sort of a feud, I guess. The popular kids hate me, so everyone else does too."

"Ah!" said Leo. "A public enemy! You and I, miss Piper McLean, are going to get along splendidly. I _love_ annoying popular kids!"

Piper smiled, but Leo continued. "So, why _do_ they hate you?"

Piper scrunched her eyebrows. "I dunno. They like to make fun of me. Like, my hair, my race, my parents…"

"Why your parents?"

Piper hesitated, but decided that she could trust Leo. He didn't seem like the type of guy who would tell her secrets just to get attention.

Piper started slowly and hesitantly. "I never knew my mom. She left my dad when I was only a baby. I tell everyone that my dad's a Cherokee artist."

"But that's a lie…?"

"Not entirely. My dad is Cherokee, and he is an artist, just not in the way people imagine it when I tell them that. My dad… my dad's Tristan Mclean."

Leo's jaw dropped, and a huge grinned crossed his face once more. "No way! That's so cool! Why _don't_ you tell people, miss movie star? They would totally respect you. You would be like, the coolest kid in school!"

Piper sighed. "Yeah, but that's the problem. If I were popular, I would want it to be because of me, and not just my dad. Plus, I don't _want_ all that attention."

"Oh." Piper couldn't read Leo's expression. She wasn't sure if he understood, or disagreed, but he didn't elaborate.

After a long silence, Leo spoke up. "I never knew my dad. He left my mom too, though she never seemed bitter about it. It was like she knew that he would have to move on."

After that the two just sat underneath in tree in silence. Sometimes Piper looked over at Leo, whose hands never seemed to stop moving.

"Why are you so restless?" Piper asked.

"Huh? Oh, ADHD."

"Oh."

Piper had only known Leo for a couple of hours, but their friendship already felt comfortable. She still couldn't shake off the feeling that they had some unknown connection that linked them together. Piper was already staring to think of Leo as some form of the annoying little brother she'd never had. As darkness fell like a curtain across the grounds of the school, Piper and Leo made a silent but unanimous decision that it was time to get up and leave.

"Talk again soon, miss movie star?" Leo joked.

"Don't _ever_ call me that," Piper growled. "And sure!"

* * *

A few days after Leo's arrival, they got a new gym teacher. He was a very short, stout little guy, maybe around fifty, but that didn't stop him from being very fierce and fitness crazed.

"Coach Hedge!" he exclaimed as he scribbled his name on the board. "You cupcakes will not get away with slacking off in gym class form now on. You will run ten miles every day, and then finish off a hundred or so pushups and crunches. And if you complain, you have to do two hundred pushups and crunches!"

Piper groaned along with the rest of the class, as they all stood up to run their 10 miles.

As the morning wore on, Piper couldn't help but notice that Coach Hedge seemed to treat her differently from the others in her class. Whenever one of her classmates stopped, the Coach would yell "Keep going!" But when Piper stopped, he'd run up to her, screaming, "Come on cupcake! You can do better than that! Run, run!" Then he'd hit his baseball bat on a few things to 'motivate' her, and run away.

Coach Hedge seemed to do this every time that he thought that Piper might be slacking off. He'd push her to more pushups and crunches, and run faster. Piper never understood why he picked on her so much. When in life was she planning to be an athlete? Never! So why did Coach Hedge care?

As Piper sweated over the hundreds of pushups Coach Hedge forced he to do, she couldn't help but notice the other girls giggling at her as they lounged around. It wasn't fair. Why didn't Coach Hedge go pick on them instead? But he didn't. The only person that Coach Hedge ever seemed to pick on the same way he picked on Piper was Leo. Piper couldn't help but wonder if he secretly had something against them.

As time passed, Piper and Leo became better and better friends. Sometimes Piper just found Leo plain annoying, he was so hyperactive and always making the stupidest jokes. They got into their fair share of fights, and quite a few periods where they refused to talk to each other at all. Yet they always made up, and most of the time Piper was glad to have Leo as a friend. She knew that Leo would never judge her or tell any of her secrets, and Leo seemed to think the same of her. Sometimes he was distracting as he fiddled with this and that during class, causing Piper to stare at whatever he was doing and loose track of what she was suppose to be learning, though it wasn't like anything that they learned at that school was important anyways. Coach Hedge continued to push both Piper and Leo to try harder, run faster and do more pushups, but Piper learned to deal with it. Piper was surprised to realize after a few months that she was actually pretty happy.

The big maple that Piper and Leo sat under the first day Leo arrived sort of became their meet-up place and they spent any and every free time they had sitting under it. Unfortunately, people started to notice, and to the disgust of both Piper and Leo, some of the kids started to brand them as a couple.

"Piper and Leo sitting in a tree," called Isabel, the leader of the popular clique. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"I'm surprised that you even know how to _spell_ kissing, much less know what it is, Isabel!" Piper called back.

Isabel flushed bright red, and some of her cronies giggled before Isabel gave them a death stare that shut them up.

"Whatever," she said. "Did you hear that we're going to the Grand Canyon in a few weeks? Won't it be nice for you to be back on the rez? Maybe we'll even get to meet you _lovely_ parents! Oh right, your dad doesn't want you, and you never knew you mom. Never mind!"

Piper screwed up her eyes and forced herself not to punch Isabel. Leo stared to get up, but Piper yanked him back down by the arm whispering, "No, Leo. I fight my _own_ battles."

Leo nodded grimly, and Isabel sneered at them. "Have fun, you little loser lovebirds."

As Isabel and her cronies walked away Piper called out, "I can see why you're here, Isabel. No parent in their right mind would want _you_!"

Isabel didn't answer, but Piper saw her hands ball up into fists as she stalked away.

Leo whistled. "Jeeze, Pipes, ruthless!"

Piper smiled, but only said, "Don't call me Pipes."

Leo gazed after them. "They are seriously like animals. Like, maybe hyenas or something."

"Wilderness School," said Piper. "Where kids are the animals."

Leo laughed. "You sure got that right!"

The weeks continued to pass, but somehow they started to feel different to Piper. She started to often get the feeling that something else should be happening to her at this very moment. One night she lay awake, staring at the ceiling. That night there was suppose to be meteor shower, and for some reason felt sure that in some other life, she was suppose to go watch it, and not alone. Piper started getting the feeling fairly often, and in the strangest of places. When she was sitting under the maple with Leo, when she was sitting bored in the back of the class, when they went on some of their 'special treat' field trips with Coach Hedge. She tried to shake the feeling off, but it just kept coming back.

A few weeks later, a new student showed up at the school. He was tall and lean, with dark hair cut into a superman type style. He was very tan with the whitest teeth that Piper had ever seen. When he was escorted in he immediately introduced himself as Dylan and gave everyone a blinding smile. As he walked away, a lot of the girls fanned themselves, saying he was hot. He was the kind of boy that Piper would _never_ date, but he seemed interested in her. He kept flirting with her, _accidently_ bumping into her, and making little jokes at her expense. To make a long story short, he was a jerk. Though he seemed interested in Piper, he never defended her when the mean girls said anything hiding jerk-ish. In fact, most of the time he laughed along with them, So Piper had taken to behind things every time she saw him coming.

Soon enough, her teachers started talking about this trip that they said would be the thrill of a lifetime. Then they would chuckle and say 'well, the thrill of _your_ lifetime,' like Piper and the rest of her classmates would never have any life outside of this school.

"The Grand Canyon!" one of the teachers told them as she handed out worksheets. "Now, this trip won't just be for fun. There _will_ be work involved!"

She raised her hands for silence as a collective groan escaped the class. Then she continued, explaining how they would have to determine different types of sediments in the canyon. After a minute or so, Piper zoned out, and watched Leo turn his new worksheet into spitballs, turning the class into a secret, silent riot.

Suddenly, the teacher said something that caught Piper's attention. "…You will be working in partners, who you will choose now."

Before Piper could reach Leo, Dylan stepped in front of her. He flashed her a blinding smile, and wrapped his arm around her. Piper grimaced and tried to squirm out of his grip, glancing over his shoulder and sending a silent plea for help to Leo.

"How would you like to have the honor of being my partner?" he asked, grinning like this was the best gift in the world.

Before Piper could say no, the teacher called out, "No denying partner requests."

Piper groaned. "Fine."

Behind Dylan's back Leo gave her a giant, very fake grin, and an equally fake thumbs up. Piper grimaced in agreement.

* * *

A few days before the looming prospect of the Grad Canyon trip, Piper had a horrible dream.

It started in complete darkness, Piper spun around wildly, trying to find some source of light. Suddenly an enormous purple bonfire blazed up, seemingly washing the world with colour. She was standing on a mountaintop at night, glimmering city light surrounding her below. The purplish flames gave out more heat that any fire Piper had seen, but she felt a cold sense of dread crawl up her back as she tried to back away from the fire. Suddenly a giant face loomed at of the darkness to leer at Piper. Its crude, gruesome features may just as well as been carved out of rock. Its eyes were closed, and dreadlocks braiding with human bones surrounded its face. Piper tired hard to back away, but her feet were frozen to the ground.

"It's starting," The giants voice rumbled through the clearing, his piercing white eyes snapping open. "The mother of all awakens. The quest will commence."

The piercing eyes found Piper, and stared right through her, making her feel smaller and more vulnerable than she'd ever felt in her life.

The giant's voice rolled out over the clearing once more. "Soon enough, you will arrive at the save haven for your kind. You will think you have friends. But you will betray them for us. Or you'll lose everything."

The gaze of the eyes swiveled around, and Piper followed it to see something she hadn't noticed before. In fact, she was fairly sure it hadn't been there. A stake at least seven feet tall was stuck in the ground, and a man was tied to it by his wrists and ankles, his wrists tied over his head, and his head lolling towards the ground. Piper thought he was unconscious, but he lifted his head, and she let out a strangled gasp. It was her father.

The voice of the giant cackled. "Yes!" it told her. "Unless you do exactly what we say, everything that you hold dear in your puny little life will be taken! Do our bidding, and you may walk away alive."

Piper chocked back a sob, and tried to cry out, but the dream was fading. She sat bolt upright in her bed, and looked around desperately.

 _A dream_ , she thought, _It was only a dream_.

But a tiny voice deep inside her told her that it was more than just a dream. It was something else as well.

Piper tried to push the thought aside. It was probably just because she hadn't seen her dad in so long. She looked around at her snoring roommates, and shook her head. She was just being silly. It was just a dream, nothing else.

* * *

Finally the day of the _wonderful_ Grand Canyon trip arrived, and early that morning the whole grade shuffled onto the bus stretching and yawning. Piper and Leo sat down beside each other on a seat, and soon enough the bus started moving along. For hours it bumped along the road as the kids lounged around, sleeping, talking, reading and listening to their iPods. Piper and Leo mostly sat in silence. At one point Piper fell asleep, but was jerked awake again pretty quickly.

Suddenly the bus hit a huge bump, jerking upwards and falling back down again, as though they had just passed through some sort of barrier. Piper looked around the bus, but nobody else seemed to have noticed the huge bump. Then she glanced over at Leo. He too was looking around as though something weird had just happened.

After a second, Piper relaxed back into her seat. She didn't know why she was worried; everything was exactly the same as it had been a moment ago. The rest of the students were still lounging around and the desert under the sunny sky bumped by. Leo was still sitting in front of her.

And her boyfriend Jason was still beside her, his hand intertwined with hers.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay! I love Piper and Leo. I totally ship them. (But as friends, of course. I love Caleo and Jasper way too much) Please review, follow and favourite, it makes me so happy! Leo will be next, he'll probably be pretty similar to Piper, except with a, well, _Leo_ twist. Until next time!  
**

 **-Helena (aka GollyGeeWhiz)**


	5. Leo

**Yay! Finally, a new chapter! I'm so bad at updating. And here's Leo, for all you people who love Leo! Sorry if Leo seems sort of OOC at times, I'm not the best at writing Leo.**

 **This one's for you, Miss Sunshine! (You know who you are, A).**

* * *

 **Leo**

 **"** **Well, what should we do with him?"**

Leo Valdez slouched glumly in his chair as the people around him discussed him fate. He had run away. Again. And he had been caught. _Again_. He had stayed in the new foster home for almost a year, but he had finally cracked. He took off again, living in the streets for nearly a month, and he managed to make it all the way to New Mexico before the truancy officer caught him. At first, the officer thought he was just skipping school, but then he realized Leo had run away.

Now they were at the police station, where they had somehow found his file from the foster care system. Now police officers were crowded around the little computer, squinting at the tiny words that may well have changed Leo's fate.

One of the officers glanced over at him. "I see he's not a novice at this. Says here that he's already run away five times from previous foster homes."

Leo didn't want to look at the man. Instead he fiddled with a button on his army jacket, trying to give his hands something to do.

One of the other officers gave a low whistle. "It that true, boy? 'This your fifth time running away from a foster home?"

"Sixth," Leo corrected automatically. Then he winced. He should have just gone with the officer's bad math skills, and said five.

The truancy officer that caught him nodded slightly as he tapped away at his keyboard. Then he glanced over at Leo.

"Normally, you would be given back to the foster system, and they would find a place for you. But this seems like a special circumstance. I don't think that sending you to a new foster home would do much good."

Leo stomach twisted with anxiety. "So where are you going to take me?"

"Hm. That's not for us to decide. I think this will have to be taken to court.

* * *

One harrowing week later, Leo was sentenced to the nearest correctional facility for teenagers—Wilderness School. Apparently someone was required by law to escort him to the school, so Leo found himself sitting on a plane beside an extremely grumpy lady who clearly did not want to spend her time this way. Leo tried to be friendly—he made lots of jokes—but by the time they were getting close to Wilderness School, she looked about ready to explode. Leo wasn't entirely sure if his jokes were annoying her, or the fact that he couldn't help but move every four seconds (or both). In any case, when they finally reached the school, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him right out of the car.

She dragged him into the school, yelling, ""Here, take him! I've had enough! He's your problem now!"

She dropped Leo to the floor, and he fell with a small squeak. Then she stormed out. For a second he just sat on the floor miserably, the word problem echoing through his brain. _Problem. Problem._ He'd been someone's _problem_ for the past six years. Leo was so wrapped up in feeling sorry for himself that he didn't notice the huge crowd that began to gather. Suddenly bristling with his old energy, Leo hopped up, opening his arms like he wanted a hug and addressing the crowd.

"Hey people!" he grinned. "I know you can't help at stare at Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme, but don't you have places to be? As much as I _love_ to be the reason that people skip class, I think you people _must_ have at least _some_ form of a life! Chop, chop!"

As the crowd scattered off to whatever their next class was, Leo felt the energy inside him dissolve as fast as it had appeared, and the lady's words rand in his ears once more. _Take him… he's your problem…_

A small intake of breath caused Leo's head to snap up. A girl was still watching him. For a second the two regarded each other. She was pretty, with choppy brown hair and pretty blue—no, green—no, brown eyes. After a second of staring, Leo grinned at the girl, wiggling his eyebrows and attempting to wink. She simply rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, striding back down the hall and out of sight. Leo watched her back until it rounded a corner, disappearing from sight. Leo couldn't quite place it, but he knew there was something different about this girl—something special. In some odd way, he felt like they shared some weird connection. Leo shook the feeling off. He was being stupid. He cast the girl out of his mind, and turned to enter the office. The lady sitting there gave him a friendly grin.

"Hello dear. Are you new here?"

Leo nodded, and gave the lady his most dazzling grin. "I'm the super hot McShizzle man! "

She pursed her lips and stared at him, the confusion clear across her face.

Leo sighed. "My name's Leo. Leo Valdez."

"Oh!" she flipped through the papers on her desk, finally pulling out a paper that Leo spotted his name on. She grabbed a pencil and looked up at him. "Let me see. You're 13-years-old, dear?"

"14," Leo replied automatically.

"Okay. And you're going into the ninth grade?"

"The _tenth_ grade," Leo corrected automatically. Why did everyone always assume he was younger than he really was?

"Sorry, hon."

After a few minutes where Leo shifted uncomfortably, trying not to fidget too much, the lady looked up again and smiled.

"It's all worked out. You'll be in room 15. I'm sure someone will show you there after dinner. Would you like to stay here until supper time and then I'll take you down to the dining hall?"

Leo agreed, and spent of few torturous hours on a couch doing virtually nothing. When suppertime finally came, he felt just about ready to explode. The lady led him down to the dining hall, where he sat alone and picked at his food. After dinner, he asked around until he found his someone who was his roommate, and the guy led him up to their room. Leo stood in the doorway of the room as the other boy's footsteps faded behind him. He didn't want to go into the room. This wasn't his home. Then again, Leo hadn't really been able to call anywhere home since the accident…

Leo shook his head, and pushed his way into the room. It was empty at the moment, but pictures and posters of sports star surrounded two of the four beds. Leo frowned at one of the empty beds, a weird feeling that he couldn't place lingering at the back of his mind. Almost like a memory that was just out of reach. For one moment, Leo felt sure that there was suppose to be someone else there. But the feeling dissolved as quickly as it had come, and Leo shook himself. He was being ridiculous.

Leo chose the empty bed closest to the window. He began pulling stuff out of his one small bag, and lined the small table beside his bed with a few small, ragged pictures he had. He help one gently in his hand, staring at the laughing face of his mother as a much younger version of himself made faces at the camera. For what felt like hours Leo sat there, until he set down the photo and curled up on his new bed.

* * *

Leo frowned down at his new schedule. This school was a jungle. How was he supposed to find his way around? He asked a few people for help, but gave up once he found himself locked in a broom closest. Eventually, he found the classroom he was trying to find, and he was surprised to find that he was one of the first people there. The only other person there was a girl sitting in the corner of the classroom. She looked vaguely familiar, and Leo thought she looked lonely, so he went and sat down beside her. He shoved his books under the desk, and looked expectantly to the front, humming and tapping his fingers.

The girl stared at him for a second, then leaned over her desk to talk to him. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

Leo looked at her, confused. "What d'you mean?"

She sighed in exasperation. "You're sitting beside me. No one ever sits beside me. You could pick any other chair in the classroom. So why are you sitting beside _me_?"

Leo shrugged. "I want to." Then he put on a huge grin. "Congratulations! You have just won the lottery! Your prize: you get to sit beside the amazing Leo Valdez for an entire class! That's me!"

She rolled her eyes. "You're weird, Leo"

Yeah, he heard that a lot. But she didn't say it like it was a bad thing.

"And I know who you are," she added, as an afterthought.

That caught Leo's attention. "You do?"

She nodded. "I saw you come in yesterday."

"Ah," Leo mentally smacked himself. She was that girl who had stared at him. That was why she looked so familiar. "That."

The girl leaned in closer to Leo. "So, why are you here?"

"What?"

"What did you do that ended you up in this prison—sorry, _school_?"

"Oh," Leo didn't know this girl. He didn't even know her name. But for some reason, he trusted her. "I—"

But he broke off when the rest of the class filed in, and the girl beside him filed back into her seat.

"Forget it," he hissed.

The class was long and boring, and the teacher made Leo come up to the front and introduce himself, so he immediately resented her. He didn't pay much attention in the class, and mostly watched the girl beside him. She was very pretty, with a dark-ish complexion that Leo thought was probably Indian. She had choppy brown hair that looked like it had been cut by a two year old, but it still managed to look nice. Her eyes reminded Leo of kaleidoscopes, and they changed colour every time he looked at her. He really wasn't sure why she was sitting alone; surely a girl like her had lots of friends.

Leo's day inched by. He introduced himself countless times, and paid little attention to the actual classes. The girl with the choppy hair was in a few of his classes, and Leo sat beside her a few more times.

As Leo walked down the hall at the end of the day, he realized he still didn't know the girl's name. She seemed to know his. She was very pretty, and Leo liked her right away. (Though not in _that_ way. She wasn't his type of girl.) So when Leo saw her walking down the hall at the end of the day, he wasted no time in calling "Wait up!"

She didn't turn, so Leo ran after her, caching her after a second.

"Hey, wait!" He came to a stop beside her, panting slightly. "Jeeze, you'd think you were deaf! Didn't you hear me calling you?"

Her eyes widened. "I didn't know you were talking to me. Or even that it was you, for that matter."

"Hmph," said Leo. "Walk?"

"Sure."

As they started walking, Leo spoke up again. "So, I don't think I caught your name, pretty girl!"

"Didn't tell it to you!" she muttered under her breath, but before Leo could question her, she continued. "Piper."

 _Piper._ Leo played the name over in his mind. Somehow, it fit her. He nodded. "I approve. You can keep your name. Let's go!"

"Where are we going?"

Leo smiled a mischievous grin, and the girl, Piper, looked at him nervously.

"Wherever we end up!" he said.

They wandered around for a while, eventually coming to a stop under a tall maple tree. They slid down the trunk and lounged in the shade of the tree. Leo could see Piper in his peripheral vision, and she watched him in silence as he pulled some little tools out of his pocket and began fiddling with them.

Finally, Piper spoke up. "So, Leo. You never answered my question. Why are you here?"

Leo shrugged. "Nothing big. Ran away a few times."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "How _many_ times?"

"Like, six."

Piper laughed. "How come?"

Leo couldn't meet Piper's colorful eyes. It felt like a really personal thing to share, but some reason he couldn't decipher, Leo trusted Piper. "My mom died when I was eight. Foster homes… well, they never really sat well with me. I always ended running away."

Piper stared at him for a second, and for an instant, Leo was scared about how she'd react. But when she spoke her voice was quiet and gentle. "Oh. I'm sorry. What happened?"

She said sorry like she meant it. Most of the time, people didn't really seem to care, but they said sorry anyways, like they felt compelled to show they 'felt bad'.

"Fire." Leo knew that this didn't explain anything, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything more. Besides, he had never told _anyone_ the full story. Luckily, Piper didn't question him, and Leo was finally able to meet her eyes again.

"What about you?" he asked. "What's a pretty girl like you doing in this dump?"

Piper smiled playfully, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "I steal stuff."

The gleam in her eyes told Leo that she wasn't lying. "Somehow I don't find that so hard to believe. What did you steal?"

"A BMW."

Leo grinned admiringly. "You're kidding! Seriously? A BMW? That's _awesome_!"

Piper blushed. "Well, I didn't actually steal it. I just asked the dealer if I could borrow it for a little while. He said I could. But then the police caught me."

"Uh huh," said Leo disbelievingly. "Sure."

After a pause Leo asked, "How come I haven't seen you with your other friends?"

"I don't have any."

Leo frowned. This girl was pretty, and she also seemed cool. Why in the world would she have no friends? "You. Miss Piper, um—"

"McLean."

"Thank you. You, Miss Piper McLean, do not have any friends? Why not?"

Piper shrugged. "I guess I just don't get along with people."

"Nonsense," said Leo. "You are getting along with me, and I happen to be _very_ annoying."

Piper laughed and Leo felt whatever tension had been dissolve. "Sort of a feud, I guess. The popular kids hate me, so everyone else does too."

"Ah!" said Leo. "A public enemy! You and I, miss Piper McLean, are going to get along splendidly. I _love_ annoying popular kids! So, why _do_ they hate you?"

Piper scrunched her eyebrows. "I dunno. They like to make fun of me. Like, my hair, my race, my parents…"

"Why your parents?"

Piper hesitated, and then reluctantly began to speak again. "I never knew my mom. She left my dad when I was only a baby. I tell everyone that my dad's a Cherokee artist."

"But that's a lie…?"

"Not entirely. My dad is Cherokee, and he is an artist, just not in the way people imagine it when I tell them that. My dad… my dad's Tristan Mclean."

Leo's jaw dropped. "No way! That's so cool! Why _don't_ you tell people, miss movie star? They would totally respect you. You would be like, the coolest kid in school!"

Piper sighed. "Yeah, but that's the problem. If I were popular, I would want it to be because of me, and not just my dad. Plus, I don't _want_ all that attention."

"Oh." Leo wasn't sure what to say. Most people wanted to be popular, and didn't care what they had to do to get popularity. A movie star dad would be perfect. Leo liked how Piper didn't want to use her dad to influence her popularity.

After a long silence, Leo spoke up. "I never knew my dad. He left my mom too, though she never seemed bitter about it. It was like she knew that he would have to move on."

For a while, the two sat under the tree in silence. Leo's hands fiddled with his little pieces of metal, making something the he couldn't decipher.

Out of the blue, Piper asked, "Why are you so restless?"

"Huh?" Leo looked up. "Oh, ADHD," he said, looking back down at his tiny creation.

"Oh."

For a while, Leo and Piper lounged around under their tree in comfortable silence, as the sun slowly sunk past the horizon. Leo thought about how lucky he was. He had only been at this school for a day, but he had already made a friend. And for reasons he couldn't explain, Leo was sure that Piper was a friend who would stick. As the last rays of sunlight sank into non-existence, Piper and Leo stood up together and began to walk back to the school.

"Talk again soon, miss movie star?" Leo joked.

"Don't _ever_ call me that," Piper growled. "And sure!"

Leo fell asleep smiling as his roommates snored. For the first time in years, he had a real friend.

* * *

Leo slowly began to adapt to this new school. Even though it was a correction school, (and they did some ' _correctional_ ' things) it was still like any other school Leo had gone to. There were cliques of popular kids, and you didn't get in their way. Leo began to develop his usual reputation of class clown, and sometimes the popular kids liked to keep him around for amusement. But Leo spent the majority of his time hanging out under a tree with Piper.

Leo often ignored the lessons the taught in class, and spent his time building things out of paper and metal and pipe cleaners. Piper often had to explain what they had learned in class to Leo, because he didn't pay much attention. His grades were all passable, though not good. (Which he largely blamed on dyslexia.)

One day a new gym coach arrived at the school, and he seemed intent on making both Leo and Piper's life a living hell.

"Coach Hedge!" he exclaimed as he scribbled his name on the board. "You cupcakes will not get away with slacking off in gym class form now on. You will run ten miles every day, and then finish off a hundred or so pushups and crunches. And if you complain, you have to do two hundred pushups and crunches!"

He yelled at everybody, but over time Leo started to realize that Coach Hedge yelled at him more than anyone else. He forced Leo to run faster and harder, and forced him to do more pushups as everyone else slacked off. Leo soon realized that Piper seemed to be getting the same treatment. This gym teacher who called everybody _cupcakes_ was obviously wacko, and Leo secretly vowed that he would play some sort of trick on him.

Leo and Piper never stopped being friends, though they did get into the stupidest arguments sometimes. Piper would call Leo annoying, ans he'd say something rude about her hair. Then they would scream at each other for ages, and refuse to speak for days. But after a few too many evil looks across the classroom, both of them would collapse into laughter and become friends once more. Leo trusted Piper more than he had ever trusted anyone, and told her lots of things he had never told anyone before, though there were a few details that he always kept to himself.

Life settled into a steady rhythm, and Leo was surprised to find himself enjoying life at the Wilderness School, even though the kids could be rude and nasty, and sometimes they acted like animals. He had a few sort-of friends, but most people seemed to know that he wasn't on friendly terms with the popular kids. So people left him alone. All in all, life was pretty okay.

* * *

 _Breeeeeeeee!_

Leo was startled awake by of loud noise. His eyes struggled to stay shut, but he forced them open, blinking the scene in front of him in focus. Piper's grinning face loomed over him. She had a little party noisemaker clenched between her teeth as she blew it into Leo's face again. It was the kind of noisemaker that had a small paper tube on the end, and when Piper blew it unraveled into Leo's face, filling with air.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked groggily.

Piper grinned. "Wishing you a happy birthday!"

Leo was confused. "What? My birthday's November 21st. Today's only…" Leo glanced over at his calendar. "Oh my gods… today's my birthday!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "No kidding, Sherlock."

"Wait… how did you get up here? You're not supposed to be in a boys room!"

Piper smiled mischievously, bouncing back onto Leo's bed. "I talked to one of the teachers. Told him that it was your birthday, and I wanted to surprise you. He agreed right away. I can be pretty persuasive if I feel like it."

Leo nodded, pulling himself into a sitting position. "Nice. Wait… you remembered that it was my birthday today?"

"Yeah… You told me last week!"

"But you remembered?"

"Obviously. I don't have amnesia. Speaking of… I forgot! I got you a birthday present!"

Grinning, Piper pulled out a messily wrapped present out from behind her back. It was wrapped in newspaper and held together with scotch tape, decorated with a little paper bow that Piper had obviously made herself.

Leo felt a lump swell in his throat. "You got me a birthday present?"

"Yeah…" Piper looked at Leo like he was being denser than usual.

Leo took it, but he didn't trust himself to talk. No one had remembered his birthday in years, and they certainly hadn't gotten him presents. He opened it very slowly, trying hard to savor the feeling. But then he got impatient (stupid ADHD) and ripped it open, revealing a little roughly carved wooden bird. Leo cupped it gently in his hands examining its delicate little features closely.

"Did you make this?" he asked Piper.

Piper nodded. Leo tried to say thank you, but the words got caught in his throat. Hopefully, Piper could tell by his face. Then Piper surprised him by leaning across the bed and giving him a big hug. It was the best birthday present Leo could have asked for. He had no idea when the last someone had hugged him— _really_ hugged him—had been. He had gotten little half hugs out of sympathy, and those he always hated. But this was a real hug. A hug from a friend.

Piper pulled away grinning. "Guess what else?"

Leo frowned, pretending to think really hard. "Oh, I dunno! You find me very attractive?"

Piper stifled a laugh and threw a pillow at him. " _No_ Mr. Modest. I most certainly do not. I was _going_ to tell you that today is Saturday!"

"Oh!" Leo said. "My birthday's on a Saturday! Sweet! What should we do?"

Piper thought about it for a moment. "Let's steal some food off of the dining table and have a picnic!"

"Perfect!"

"Okay!" Piper turned to leave. "Meet you at the bottom of the stairs in… ten minutes?"

"You got it!" Leo said.

Ten minutes later Piper and Leo ran down to the dining hall. They pretended to eat breakfast, but kept sneaking food into their laps. By the end of the meal, they had enough food to last them the entire day. They got caught by one of the teachers as they tried to sneak out of the hall, but Piper managed to talk them out of trouble. Soon enough, Leo and Piper found themselves under their maple tree in the yard, sitting on a blanket.

The day was sort of chilly, but Piper and Leo didn't mind. It was better than being inside. They spent the whole day under the tree, laughing and talking and eating. Late in the evening they got chased inside by a teacher, and both got detention, but Leo didn't mind. It had still been the best birthday ever.

* * *

Class at Wilderness School could be a bit bizarre. Sometimes, as special treats, they would get to go on special field trips with Coach Hedge. Usually, they went somewhere boring like a museum. But they next trip sounded a bit more promising.

"The Grand Canyon!" one of the teachers told them as she handed out worksheets. "Now, this trip won't just be for fun. There _will_ be work involved!"

Leo groaned along with the rest of the class, but the teacher raised her hands for silence. As she began to explain how they would have to identify different types of sediment in the rock, Leo began silently ripping his paper up, and turning it into spitballs. Soon the popular kids were all whipping their heads around like idiots, trying to find the spitball culprit.

The teacher droned on, and Leo only caught the occasional phrase. "…You will be working in partners, who you will choose now."

The class began chattering away as they got up and arranged their partners. Leo caught Piper's eye, and she began to come over. Before she could make it over to Leo, her way was blocked, and the new kid named Dylan wrapped his arm around Piper, grinning widely. Piper grimaced and squirmed, sending a silent plea for help to Leo with her eyes. Dylan had other ideas.

"How would you like to have the honor of being my partner?" he asked, grinning like this was the best gift in the world.

Before Piper could say no, the teacher called out, "No denying partner requests."

Piper groaned. "Fine."

Leo gave her a giant, very fake grin, and an equally fake thumbs up. Piper grimaced in agreement.

Leo felt bad for Piper, but he was also annoyed. Now he didn't have a partner. But for some reason Leo didn't ask anyone. He had the strangest feeling that there was someone he should be asking, but they weren't there. So he didn't ask anyone.

* * *

A few days before the trip, Leo was eating breakfast when a rather jumpy looking Piper joined him. She looked very worried, but when Leo asked her what was wrong, she said it was nothing. Probably a dream, Leo decided. He got those sometimes, too. But he couldn't help feeling a bit worried about Piper; she seemed a little off and distracted all day. But eventually, Leo just shook it off. She could take care of herself.

The teachers wouldn't stop talking about this up-coming Grand Canyon trip, babbling on about how it would be _'the trip of a lifetime'_. Personally, Leo didn't see how it would be all that much fun, and no one else seemed to think otherwise.

But the trip came nonetheless, and early one morning the entire tenth grade left the building stretching and yawning, and loaded onto a school bus. For a while, Leo looked out the window, watching the sun rise slowly above the horizon of the desert that stretched for miles on end. He sat beside Piper, and they chatted a bit, but mostly they just sat in silence, and watched the world go by. The rest of the kids lounged around, chatting, listening music and sleeping. The trip felt weirdly somber to Leo, and he had the strangest feeling that he would never go back to the Wilderness school.

The bus suddenly heaved upwards, jerking Leo out of his thoughts. He looked around in alarm, but no one else seemed to have noticed the bump. They were all lounging around as though nothing had happened. He glanced back at Piper, and their eyes met, the unspoken question hanging in the air. _What just happened?_ Leo wasn't sure what, but something had changed. Sometime was _very_ different.

Leo shook himself. His imagination was getting away with him again. The bizarre sense of change faded, and suddenly Leo couldn't remember what he had been thinking about at all. He didn't know what he had been worried about. Everything was identical to as it had been a moment before. The kids were still sleeping. The desert was still rolling past. Piper smiled at him as he looked back at her. Leo's best friend Jason's hand was tucked into Piper's as his head lolled back on the seat.

Leo looked at them enviously. Jason and Piper were so perfect together.

* * *

 **I hope you liked this chapter! Sorry if it was sort of similar to the Piper one. But it was much more _Leo_ , and everyone seems to love Leo! Leo didn't have a birthday in the books, so I made one up. I also made a birthday up for Piper (April 14th). Please review, follow and favourite, it makes me so happy! I don't think I will do Hazel and Frank, because frankly (pun intended) I find them a bit boring. So I guess for the time being, this story is complete. But you should go check out my new story, Childhood.**

 **-Helena (GollyGeeWhiz)**


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